THE SAILS OF THE HIGH SEAS

- Chapter 29 -

"What breath do I take
That doesn't have You in it?
A constant reminder that My life
Is no longer Mine...

What tear do I shed
That hadn't been cried in Your name?
The depth of My sorrow
Numbs My heart from within...

What reach of My hand
Doesn't beg for Your touch?
With a crushing reminder
That You are no longer there...

No longer there...

No longer there..."

Marianna awoke from the nightmare so scared and so distraught that her heavy breathing shook Sandokan enough to wake him up as well. The fear of what she felt at the very last moment of her dream held such a terrifying hold on her heart that she could not calm down. She simply could not. Not when the image of Sandokan's lifeless body floating down toward the darkness of the abyss kept crushing her soul.

"What is it?" Sandokan sat up and wrapped his arms around her.

"I... I... I cannot tell You!" Marianna cried out, turned toward him, and hid her face in her shaking hands.

"Come here," he embraced her more tenderly. "It was just a dream. Just a bad dream."

"I beg of You! Let it be just that!" Marianna cried and kept shaking. "It cannot become reality!"

"It will not. Whatever it was, whatever took hold of that light in You and turned it toward the darkness of uncertainty, we will overcome it," he spoke softly. "Believe in my words, my dearest Marianna."

"Oh, Sandokan, I..." Marianna tried to speak through her tears as she held onto him as tight as she could. "You must live! You must!"

"Did You...? Was Your dream about...?" He did not want to finish the sentence.

"Yes, I am afraid so. I am so very afraid so," she replied with her eyes closed tight.

"Marianna," he whispered and brought her chin up with his hand under it. "My dear Marianna. Open Your eyes. Look at me, I am here. As alive as You are."

"Tell me You love me... Tell me Your heart will beat for me, forever," she said a bit calmer as her sobbing began to quiet down. She cuddled as close to Sandokan as possible, and listened to his beating heart.

"I love You. My heart belongs to You, and for You it shall beat. You have my word, and a pirate's words is his honor," Sandokan whispered and kissed the top of her head. The fact that she shivered so much told him just how scared she must have felt. And how much it affected her.

"I wish we could pretend that life outside this boat did not exist," Marianna began to sob quietly again.

"That, my dear Marianna, is to be determined by Fate. And Fate only. You must also remember that it was the very life outside this boat that brought You and I together. Even if we would one day be separated, we will find a way back to each other. I am sure of it," he turned them around on the cot ever so gently, and laid atop his beloved.

"My heart will not survive without You," she felt new tears forming in her eyes.

"Shhh, dearest one," Sandokan lowered his lips to her eyes and kissed her tears away. "The wife of a pirate is strong enough to survive anything. Even her husband's ill-timed dance skills."

"You weren't that bad," Marianna chuckled lightly, and sighed right after. "I love You, Sandokan the rough and rugged pirate, the fiercest Tiger of Malaysia."

"You just say that to make me feel more ferocious," he grinned, growled playfully, and placed his arm behind her back.

"Does ferocious mean more rough?" Marianna smiled shyly.